Rossi secures back-to-back wins at Long Beach

Alexander Rossi wrote his name into the record books with a dominating performance at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach over the weekend.

The Andretti Autosport driver led for most of the race to become the first back-to-back winner at the track since Sebastien Bourdais won three on the bounce from 2005-07. Read on as we look at three main talking points from the race.

Rossi joins legendary list of Long Beach winners

Rossi cruised across the finish line over 20 seconds ahead of Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden – the largest margin of victory at Long Beach since six-time winner Al Unser Jr triumphed by more than 23 seconds in 1995.

The 27-year-old joined the likes of Paul Tracy (4), Mario Andretti (3), Bourdais (3), Alex Zanardi (2) and his team owner Michael Andretti (2) in winning multiple races at Long Beach.

Rossi was a popular pick with punters at daytona-betting.com after starting the race from pole position and his victory moved him into second place in the 2019 championship standings, 28 points behind Newgarden.

He became the fourth NTT IndyCar Series driver, each from a different team, to win in as many races this season, highlighting the strength of the competition this year.

Andretti celebrates magnificent 200th victory

Michael Andretti notched 42 race wins during his driving career, but he has emphatically topped that tally as a team owner.

Rossi’s victory marked the team’s 200th triumph across all racing platforms – an amazing achievement for Andretti who became co-owner of what was then Andretti Green Racing back in 2003.

Although recognised as one of the best drivers of his generation, Andretti has exceeded those achievements as a team owner.

He never managed to win the Indianapolis 500 as a driver, but has claimed the prestigious race five times as an owner. Don’t bet against him making it six at this year’s renewal.

Rahal unhappy to be demoted

Graham Rahal admitted that he blocked Scott Dixon on the last lap and he appeared pretty aggrieved to be demoted after the race.

Rahal disagreed with the post-race penalty that reversed the way they crossed the finish line and cost him a first podium finish of the campaign.

The 30-year-old, who had used all of his push-to-pass horsepower boosts and was finishing on worn tyres, fended off two close calls with Dixon in the final stretch.

Inevitably, the five-time series champion thought the decision to demote his rival was justified, but the ruling did look a little harsh.